A Baby's Avoidable Death

Published: October 28, 1998

The New York State Department of Health has concluded its investigation into the death of Shannell Coppage, a six-week-old girl who died of malnutrition because her young mother, Tatiana Cheeks, had failed to breast-feed her adequately. The investigation suggests that the hospital where Ms. Cheeks sought help blundered badly.

Ms. Cheeks had taken the baby to an outpatient clinic of New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn for her one-week checkup after birth. But the baby was turned away because her mother did not have a Medicaid card for the child and could not pay $25.

Under state regulations, hospitals must provide patients with generally accepted standards of care and are not allowed to discriminate based on the source of payment. The Brooklyn hospital failed on both counts. There was no need for a Medicaid card because infants are automatically covered for one year if their mothers are on Medicaid, as Ms. Cheeks was. State investigators concluded that this was an isolated case of incompetence at the hospital. The hospital has ordered its staff to undergo more training, but will face no other sanctions.

After Shannell's death, Ms. Cheeks was jailed on charges of negligent homicide. The charges were dropped when pediatricians testified that many breast-feeding mothers cannot easily tell whether their babies are growing normally unless the infants are weighed and monitored regularly. Nursing support and education about breast-feeding might have alerted Ms. Cheeks to danger signs.

Ms. Cheeks's other child, taken from her when she was arrested, remains in foster care with a relative. This family's life has been horribly altered, all for want of access to basic medical care that should be the birthright of every child.